Jennings signs

Jsonline and Fox 6 Sports are reporting that Greg Jennings has signed a new deal estimated to be worth a cool $9 million a year. I say – finally. I’m very pleased with this. He is a stand up guy who won’t let a new fat contract alter his effort on the field. He is a very very good WR right now but he could end up being one of the best WR the Packers ever have. Nicely done TT, Packers and Jennings. Nicely done.

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5 Responses to “Jennings signs”

It will be interesting to see the contract details. I think everyone has known the deal would be around $9 million per year for months now. That is what the market has paid the last few contracts for top notch WR’s. Moss got a 3 year $27 million deal and the Cowboys gave a 5 yr/$45 million deal to Williams in the middle of last season. There was just no way Jannings was accept anything less then that and Thompson wasn’t going to pay much more then that. I’m sure the difficult part of this negotionation wasn’t the per year rate but rather how much of it was guaranteed and how much of it was tied to roster and/or incentive bonuses.

I think Colledge should be next up on the list for an extension. He could be signed on the cheap now and I just have this feeling he comes into his own this season as a really good LG. Kampman will want top-tier 4-3 DE end type money and he deserves it but I am guessing TT isn’t going to shell out that type of contract to him as a 3-4 OLB until he proves he can actually thrive in that position. Collins is the other candidate but I am guessing TT thinks Collins bargaining power is higher now then it will be come October or next off season. Collins is also set to make $3+ million this year so it’s not like he is grossly underpaid like Jennings and I doubt TT wants to reward his (or his agents) annoying attitude the last few months.

Davek – my only concern re Jennings’ contract may end up being the incentives in there. This may sound strange, but I think as an organization, I actually think we need to consider the likelihood that Jennings will attain nearly any goal he/the organization sets. He is wired like that and while it would be great for the team for him to reach goal after goal, with an incentive-laden contract, that could end up being somewhat costly.

As far as Colledge – I haven’t seen enough from Colledge to warrant a nice deal just yet. But if he does start coming into his own this season, I could see starting negotiations 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the season.

If I were Collins I wouldn’t be messing around much – holding out etc. Despite going to the Pro Bowl in 2008, for 2009 he still has to master a new defense (something Anthony Smith apparently has already done) and he has to get himself into playing shape.

I just have this hunch about Colledge…I just think he puts it all together this year. He sure has had some disappointing games in the past but I think staying put at LG squeezed between Sptiz and Clifton will be good for him and at times he played very well last year. A few games I thought he was the best performing OL. I just have this hunch about him really taking the next step and locking him early will save the Packers some serious cash if that turns out to be the case.

Colledge has never been able to string 4 straight well played games togehter since he’s been with the Packers. Everytime he starts to look good MM ends up benching him or switching him to a new position after a particularly crappy game. Wait until the end of the year and see what he has done.

1. The escalators seem to be tied to “team performance” and playing time. I’m not sure how many players would be willing to tie their pay into overall team performance. I don’t remember ever seeing that before and I am curious what ‘team’ benchmarks they have to hit…winning record, playoffs, superbowl, etc before Jennings gets his extra money.

2. They gave Jennings a large ‘signing’ bonus instead of a large ‘roster’ bonus. So, despite paying Jennings $16.25 million this year alone it only counts against the cap for $8.154 million. The use of the signing bonus tells me TT is reserving some cap space this year to extend another player or two. He still has $21 million in cap space to do so.

The cap numbers are different because of the use of the signing bonus but here is what Jennings will make IF he hits all the game day roster bonuses and escalators:

The Packers are protected if Jennings doesn’t pan out (injury, arrested, etc…) after 2009 as nothing is guaranteed after 2009. They can wash their hands of him and only have the pro-rated signing bonus count against the cap after 2009.

The large amount of cap space this year is amazing. Not only did it allow TT to structure this deal with amazingly low cap numbers for the entire four years but he also has considerable money left for other players. This is what you get when you don’t squander money in FA and you draft players worthy of extensions.